Troparion (Tone 4)
You gladdened Christ’s Church by your melodies
like an inspired heavenly trumpet.
You were enlightened by the Mother of God
and shone on the world as God’s poet.
We lovingly honor you, righteous Roman.
We are told in the First Book of Kings that: “Israel went out to war against the Philistines, and camped by the Stone of Help” (1 Samuel 4:1) … The ‘Stone of Help’ is Christ, who is referred to in this Sunday’s Office reading: “Jacob took a stone, and putting it under his head, slept” (Genesis 28:11). In this way, the preacher should rest his head upon Jesus Christ, the Stone of Help; so that he may rest upon him, and in and through him overcome the demons. This is the meaning of the words, ‘encamped by the Stone of Help’, because he sets the camp of his conversation, and pitches the tents of his preaching, beside Jesus Christ who is his help in time of trouble, and he trusts in Him, and attributes everything to Him. — From a Sermon of St. Anthony of Padua for the Second Sunday of Lent as found in The Sermons of St Anthony of Padua translated by Paul Spilsbury, 1979
Nicholas lived in the third and fourth century in Asia Minor. Born the only son of pious parents, as a young priest he distributed the entire estate of his parents to the poor. The faithful chose him bishop of the city of Myra. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He is the patron of sailors and travelers, as well as girls wishing to be married. St. Nicholas is also considered an advocate of people who have been wronged by fate.
HYMN OF PRAISE: Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia
Holy Father Nicholas,
The four corners of the world glorify you
As a knight of the powerful Faith,
The Faith of God, the true Faith.From the cradle he was devoted to God,
From the cradle until the end;
And God glorified him-
His faithful Nicholas.Famous was he throughout his life,
And even more renowned after death;
Mighty on earth was he,
And even more mighty is he in heaven.Glowing spirit, pure heart,
He was a temple of the Living God;
For this the people glorify him
As a wondrous saint.Nicholas, rich in glory,
Loves those who honor him as their “Krsna Slava”;
Before the throne of the eternal God,
He prays for their good.O Nicholas, bless us,
Bless your people
Who, before God and before you,
Humbly stand in prayer.
St. Barbara Day (Barbórka)
Miners dress in special uniforms during Barbórka. The uniform consists of black suit and hat with a feather. The color of the feather (white, red or black) depends on the rank of the miner. Miners wear their decorative uniforms not only during Barborka but also for weddings, funerals and other important political or social ceremonies.
Barbórka is celebrated with Miners’ Balls. Miners from coal-mines of Silesia and Zaglebie do not work underground during this day but participate in festivities. A big Ball takes place each year in Kraków’s University of Mining and Metallurgy (AGH).
Barbórka is celebrated not only in Poland but also in other countries of the region with strong mining tradition like in Germany and in Czech Republic. In Germany the celebration is called “Barbarafeier”.
St. Barbara is not only a patron of coal-miners but also a patron of geologists, mathematicians and many others professions. Her patronage is linked with the fact that according to the legend she was imprisoned in a tall tower. Her imprisonment led to association with variety of construction professions. Her festivities take place in geological institutes and universities of Germany and Austria. St. Barbara is also connected strongly with the Orthodox Church’s tradition.
To prevent accidents miners used to build chapels devoted to their patron, St. Barbara. St. Barbara is also a very celebrated nameday in Poland because Barbara is a popular feminine name.
We had in Poland over hundred mines! Besides black and brown coal also copper and silver are excavated and also salt. But salt miners have their own patron, St. Kinga. St. Kinga’s feast is on July 24th.
From the American Mesopotamian Organization, Justice in Iraq, the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, and the Seyfo Center U.S.A.: A Rally to Challenge the Obama Administration to Support and Protect Indigenous Assyrian Christians of Iraq
For the past seven years we have watched in stunned disbelief as savage Islamist extremist groups have continued to terrorize and murder Iraqi Christians. In the latest attacks, Al Qaeda-linked terrorists stormed the Syriac Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad during Mass, killing the priests in front of their parishioners, and children in front of their parents. On November 2nd the same group announced that all infidels in Iraq should be prepared to die. Enough is Enough!
WHEN: Saturday, December 4th, from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Lafayette Park, Washington, DCWe, the undersigned organizations, demand that the Obama Administration immediately pressure the government of Iraq to protect its most persecuted citizens. To date, the Obama Administration has failed to even acknowledge that Iraqi Christians are being murdered specifically because of their faith and ethnic heritage. They are the descendants of the Assyrians and Babylonians, who were the first converts to Christianity outside Jerusalem in the 1st century A.D., and still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Their plight is shared by other defenseless Iraqis, including the Yazidis, Sabean Mandaeans and Shebeks.
Currently, under Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution, Iraq’s Christians and other indigenous Iraqis have the legal right to practice their faith, and the right to establish a specific province in which they might live peacefully as citizens of Iraq. We ask the U.S. government to pressure the Iraqi government and Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to remove the obstacles and fully implement Article 125 so that Iraq’s Christians will not be terrorized to extinction.
Join us this Saturday, in Lafayette Park, Washington DC, from 12:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M., along with groups from across the nation to demand, with a loud and unified voice, that the Obama Administration must act now and pressure the government of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to protect all of their citizens!
From the Institute on Religion & Democracy: IRD Urges Prayer, Advocacy for Afghani and Iraqi Christians
“Freedom and democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan must apply to our Christian brothers and sisters there.” — Faith J.H. McDonnell, IRD Religious Liberty Director
The Institute on Religion and Democracy is urging an end to persecution of Christians in Afghanistan and Iraq. The organization also encourages Washington, DC area residents to show solidarity with these beleaguered Christians at a rally sponsored by Iraqi American Christians for “Justice in Iraq” at noon, Saturday, December 4, at the White House’s Lafayette Park. The rally will call upon the respective governments to ensure that the rights and freedoms of the indigenous minorities in Iraq are honored and protected.
Two Afghani Christian converts, Said Musa (45) and Ahmad Shah (50) are in prison awaiting trial on the death penalty charge of “apostasy” from Islam. The Christian population of Iraq is under threat from Islamic jihadists following the latest atrocity, a massacre of Christians at Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church, Baghdad, on October 31, 2010.
Musa and Shah were arrested May 31 with other converts after footage of a baptismal service was viewed on national television. Witnesses report that Musa has been beaten, tortured, and sexually abused on a daily basis.
Al Qaeda-connected jihadists have told Iraq’s Christians and other “infidels” to “prepare to die.” This threat followed the attack on Baghdad Christians at Sunday mass which left 58 dead. The Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac Christians trace their ancestry back 7,000 years to the ancient Mesopotamians.
IRD Religious Liberty Director Faith J.H. McDonnell commented:
“America has given billions of dollars, and, more importantly, given precious American lives, to bring freedom and democracy to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. But this must include freedom and democracy for our Christian brothers and sisters and other indigenous minorities, as well.
In 2006, the international community was outraged when Afghan Christian convert Abdul Rahman faced the death penalty. His life was saved because of the outcry. These Iraqi Christians, who are being hunted like animals by the Islamists, still speak Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. We must stand with them in their hour of peril.”
I have always found the Young Fogey’s posts that refer to “scarring Protestants” enjoyable (ok, downright funny – see here and here for examples). In tribute, I found a couple that will scare both Roman Catholics and Protestants:
From Fr. Calvo at Holy Name Parish in Deerfield, MA for those fearful of “schismatics” who promote old guys in aprons
From the Buffalo News in Where relics of saints abound for those fearful of Catholic devotion and the bones and clothes of the saints:
In the evenings, when the Seneca Niagara Casino’s neon sign seems to pour like a waterfall and cars line up by the front-door valet, the stone church next door attracts its own admirers with its lighted spires and large, sparkling display of bone chips from old saints.
One night last week — before today’s Catholic All Saints Day — a parishioner sat in the pew near the relics to explain why he comes alone to pray when he feels aggravated by people in his life. Here in the quiet it is nice to feel close to St. Francis of Assisi, the saint known for relationship struggles with his father.
“It’s an outlet,” said Chuck Vacanti, with matter-of-fact cheer.
The cache of 1,144 religious relics — mostly mounted and framed bone fragments the size of pencil tips, or threads from saints’ clothes — is one of the largest in the United States, according to the Rev. Michael Burzynski, who has collected them since he was a young man in graduate school. In the decade he has led St. Mary of the Cataract, they have added intrigue — and maybe luck to the 1847 church with its unusual juxtaposition to the nearby casino…
Blessing of animals in honor of the Commemoration of St. Francis of Assisi at a PNCC Parish near you as follows:
Saturday, October 2nd, 10:30-11:15 a.m., St. Mary’s Polish National Catholic Church, 200 Stephenson St., Duryea, PA.
Saturday, October 2nd at 1 p.m. at St. Francis Parish, 1752 Harton Avenue, East Meadow, Long Island, NY.
Saturday, October 2nd at 2pm at St. John the Baptist Parish, 414 West Oak St., Frackville, PA.
Saturday, October 2nd, at 10am at Holy Name of Jesus Parish, 1040 Pearl St., Schenectady, NY. A collection of pet food and other supplies will be taken in support of local pet rescue organizations.
Contact your local Parish for more information.
Many PNCC Parishes will bless flowers and herbs on the Solemnity of the Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin on Sunday, August 15th. For instance:
St. Mary’s Polish National Catholic Church will have a blessing of the harvest in honor of the Dormition-Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sunday, August 15th before the 8:30 and 11 a.m. Masses at the church, 200 Stephenson St., Duryea, PA. The parishioners and public are encouraged to bring an item from their garden (vegetables, flowers, and herbs) as a way of giving thanks to God for the bounty of the Earth. For more information please call the Rev. Carmen Bolock, pastor, at 570-457-2291.
Check with a parish near you for details.
From the Republican Herald: Priest blesses cars for faithful
FRACKVILLE – Ann Marie Wycheck, Frackville, has never been in a major car accident.
Neither has Helen Hopko or Al Gursky, both of Frackville. Or Dorothy or Walter Jaskierski, Saint Clair.
But that didn’t stop them from having their cars blessed Sunday after Mass at St. John the Baptist Polish National Catholic Church.
Parishioners joined in the parking lot with the Rev. Robert P. Plichta to say a short prayer and have the priest perform a blessing ritual.
“I think we can all use a little prayer over our cars to be blessed,” Wycheck said as Plichta made the Sign of the Cross at a nearby vehicle.
“This will help a lot to give me peace of mind when driving,” Hopko said.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Gursky said. “Every little bit helps when you think of how people drive, how dangerous it is.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported more than 37,000 motor vehicle fatalities in 2008, and the U.S. Census Bureau reports that there were an estimated 10.6 million motor vehicle accidents in 2007. Both statistics are from the most recent year data were available.
Plichta said he started this tradition at the church last year, performing the blessing on the Sunday closest to the feast day of St. Christopher, which is July 25. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers.
“For people, it’s important to ask God for protection,” Plichta said.
He said he also says a brief prayer each time before driving.
“In Poland, there was twice where I didn’t say a prayer, ‘under thy protection …’ and I had two accidents – somebody hit me, I hit somebody. Minor. But now I say every time,” Plichta said. “It’s important for somebody who believes.”
Plichta, who is originally from Poland and served a congregation of more than 17,000 in Gdansk, said while in Poland he saw many people who had accidents, then came to get their new cars blessed.
“It just helps give peace of mind to some people,” Plichta said.
He said anyone wishing to have his or her car blessed can contact him at the church at 874-1960. Get your car blessed
If anyone would like to get their vehicle blessed, contact the Rev. Robert P. Plichta, pastor of St. John the Baptist Polish National Catholic Church, Frackville, at 874-1960.
When the faithful considers his numerous weaknesses and the grievous temptations which assail him, and recalls that Jesus invites and commands him to receive Holy Communion, he is filled with a holy confidence because he knows that he will receive the necessary help from this Celestial Food.
The frequent and daily reception of Holy Communion withdraws one from evil and comforts one in good, lt is food not only for the strong, but also the weak. It is food necessary to recuperate, conserve, increase and fortify the sanctity of our soul.
Knowing the necessity of preparing ourselves well to receive Holy Communion, let us ask Jesus to give us a lively faith, simplicity of heart, peace, zeal, fervor, confidence and especially humility and love of God. If we receive Holy Communion with these dispositions, our mind will be refreshed and illuminated, and our souls will be enriched with many graces and celestial favors.
Every day Jesus descends upon the altar at the words of the priest. All the faithful are, in a certain sense, priest, because they are members of the mystical Body of Christ and they are participators in offering, in union with the priest, with Jesus Christ and the Church,
the Holy Sacrifice of Mass. Let us unite ourselves to this offering and meditate on the necessity to bear our cross as Christ did.The best preparation for Holy Communion is to elect Jesus as King of our heart. That is, make Him absolute ruler of us and make ourselves obedient to Him in all and never refuse Him anything.